I missed yesterday’s Science Week blog post but couldn’t Thursday’s one as it’s an easy one for me. The question is asked, “What’s the next gadget that you want to buy?”. My answer, the 8GB Nokia N95.
As mobile devices to it’s a massive step forward and one towards the ideal mobile device. Connectivity-wise you’ve got everything you need if you’re working in an online environment – bluetooth, 3G and WiFi. The recent opening up of some Eircom wifi hotspots if you’re already an Eircom BB customer makes public internet access that bit easier. I won’t always have my laptop with me but need a solid mobile device that will allow me to
- Make and take calls (a given).
- Have a good quality camera. The N95 shoots at 5mp and I would miss the 3.2mp on my Sony Ericsson K800i.
- Access the internet over WiFi thus allowing easier access to emails, connections to the office, grabbing music and last minute details around gig weekends, upload photos on the go to my Flickr account and more.
- Keep up with Jaiku via the S60 client (thus reducing my SMS bill).
- Allow me to grab and store podcasts on the go (to feed my habit).
- These points are just for starters…
Again, in a non-laptop situation there’s always the possibility of mobile blogging, VOIP calls, mapping and more. I’ve written about the N95 being my Christmas present to myself this year, though admittedly it looks like I’ll be waiting until the New Year or whenever O2 sort out getting the N95 8GB model so I can make use of my contract upgrade. You can discover the N95 yourself here.
When it comes to phones I’m not a gaming person and in the 13 months I’ve had the K800i I can recall just the trip to Toronto last year that lead me to play games on the phone. I’m more about getting things done and having a device that will assist me in day to day activities.
Having used the first N95 briefly (briefly as in for a few minutes) and working alongside an N95 owner I can see the benefits of the device immediately. The use of IM before / after a client meeting, the ability to hop online and pull messages from MySpace or grab last minute mails before a gig (when you’re dealing with bands that communicate primarily through social networks as opposed to your actual phone then this is a must), passing spreadsheets or PDFs or word documents, plotting a trip on a map before you head away somewhere – and keeping that map in your pocket – that and the abundance of S60 applications that are available to run on the Nokia N95 to enhance your working experience.
Plus, it fits nicely in your hand or pocket and the call quality and speakerphone quality is also good (somewhere the K800i lacks.)
It’s been decided and I’ll wait patiently for my upgrade I think.
i’m posting this comment from n95. It does all that you mention. For example, I stopped on the way to work this morning to photograph a great sunrise which i can flickr directly. Just make sure you have chargers everywhere to keep up with the battery life.
that’s the one for me also, looked at it SIM free in London yesterday £500!!!!!!!!
£500? Sure that’s like… €8,000.
It’s a stiff price to pay for the handset, hence why I’m hoping O2 get their act together and bring the phone on board. I had seen it on Vodafone’s UK christmas handset list but with O2 Ireland I’d imagine some time Q1 2008.
@damian – how are you finding the battery life on the device? I reckon consistent use of wifi would see it drain quite a bit…
@ken,
The battery life is the main frustration for me with the device. Perhaps I have a poor battery but yesterday it ran flat on me at about 10am. I charged it and it was almost flat again by 10pm. A few voice calls in the meantime (testing cubic phone connectivity actually) and some jaiku checking.
I also have a Blackberry curve and have had to swap the sim back into it twice when caught without a charger. It uses the skinny Nokia connection and I have about 20 fat ones lying around so stocking up on skinnies now.
Why can’t they all just use the mini-USB port?
Other niggle is menu navigation – The blackberry puts nearly everything on the ‘desktop’, scroll to the icon and click.
On the N95 I may have to slide the slider a particular way, or press app button, or press and then go to the Applications folder, or maybe to a folder beside the applications folder … I think Russell Beattie had a post recently that said much the same thing.
That being said, I’m not giving up on it yet. The 8GB has a different battery, hopefully better, and you get used to finding your regular apps and can configure shortcuts. Also I think answering calls with a flick of the slider is cool, a la Matrix.
dB.
“The recent opening up of some Eircom wifi hotspots if you’re already an Eircom BB customer makes public internet access that bit easier.”
I should have paid more attention when accessing one of those hotspots at Manor West Hotel in Tralee last Monday. AFAIR the login screen came up first on the browser after initially finding the wifi signal. So I suppose you’ll be able to login likewise through Opera Mini on the N95. If that’s so then your usage scenario above makes total sense for me too and the N95 would be an ideal laptop replacement for many journeys out of the office.
I think that’s the common thing with the Eircom hotspots. I’ve found the same sitting in a hotel or two in Kilkenny, open up firefox and you’ll be drawn immediately to the Eircom login screen before you can go anywhere.
Speaking of which though, I must really sign up for the hotspot access, being an eircom business BB user and all. If they’re offering the free wifi access I should be taking!
Has anyone been able to test the video (shooting, not playing) on the N95?
I’ve taken one video with the N95 but it was a halloween party in the dark so quite demanding.
That being said playback looks pretty good on the phone.
Vhei is says VOIP clinet, is it a SIP client that one could hook up with teh BlueFace.ie number? THe scenario I would like to get is that a N95 is connected via teh WiFi, and someone can ring me on my VIOP (landline like) phone number, and thus the call is free for me on the N95. Does it work like that, or I got it all wrong? 🙂
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